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The Fig Tree in Alimentary Culture, Folk Medicine and Traditions among the Peoples of the Western Balkans
 
Код статьиS086954150017606-6-1
DOI10.31857/S086954150017606-6
Тип публикации Статья
Статус публикации Опубликовано
Авторы
Новик Александр Александрович 
Аффилиация: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Адрес: Russian Federation, Saint Petersburg
Домосилецкая Марина Валентиновна
Аффилиация: Institute of Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Адрес: Russian Federation, Saint Petersburg
Название журналаЭтнографическое обозрение
Выпуск№6
Страницы224-241
Аннотация

The article analyzes the role of the fig tree in various spheres of culture of the Albanians, Croats, Greeks, and other peoples of the Balkan Peninsula, as well as the use of its fruit as food and raw material for the production of alcoholic beverages and medicine. Until the 19th century, the pollination of the plant remained a mystery (not even Carl Linnaeus, the “father of botany” and the creator of the modern classification of wildlife species, was able to solve the complex puzzle of nature), which led to the emergence and proliferation of numerous mythologemes, still recorded to date, that are consistently associated with the fig tree. Currently, notions about the magical properties of the plant and its fruit are being transformed under the influence of the global passion for environmentally friendly bio products. The discussion specifically focuses on the mechanism through which such “new meanings” enter the public discourse.

Ключевые словаWestern Balkans, fig tree, beliefs, magic, food, folk medicine, tradition, bio resources
Источник финансированияThis article is a translation of: А.А. Новик, М.В. Домосилецкая. Инжир в алиментарной культуре, народной медицине и традициях у народов Западных Балкан // Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie. 2021. No 5. P. 33–52. DOI: 10.31857/S086954150017413-4. The original research was supported by the following institutions and grants: Russian Science Foundation, https://doi.org/10.13039/501100006769 [grant no. 19-18-00244]
Получено20.12.2021
Дата публикации23.12.2021
Кол-во символов47640
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Оглавление

From the mysterious to the magical and the sacred
Fig tree in the economy, alimentary sphere, in the ethnic and religious self-identification of the Balkan nations
Figs in Traditional Medicine: From Prejudice to Bio resource
1

From the mysterious to the magical and the sacred
2 Fig tree cultivation11 spread rather early in the Mediterranean, including the Ionian and Adriatic coasts. The birthplace of the plant is the Arabian Peninsula, from there it penetrated the Middle East, Asia Minor, the Balkan Peninsula, etc. (Sulaj 2013: 94; Common fig s.a.). The fig tree was appropriated by the Hellenes in the 9th century BC, and with the expansion of Greek colonization to the West and East, the plant first took root in the city-states, and then spread out to neighboring regions. 1. Due to the long tradition of mentioning the fig tree and its fruits in written sources, many almost complete synonyms have formed in the Russian language to name them. The question of the origin and stylistic load of these synonyms is outside the scope of this work. The authors use the following terminology into Russian: for a tree (Ficus carica) – “фиговое дерево”, “смоковница”, “инжир”; for its fruit – “смоква”, “плод смоковницы”, “фига”, “инжир”.
3 The fig tree is mentioned in biblical texts (Genesis. Ch. 3, 7). It has also become deeply ingrained in the folklore of various nations (Nopcsa 1913a: 66; Frazer 1990; Tirta 2004: 283). Slavic tribes that settled in the Balkan Peninsula in 5–7 centuries AD, found that the locals are well aware of this plant. Subsequently, the cultivation of the fig tree in the Western Balkan region has never been interrupted. The range of the tree/semi-shrub varieties bred over many centuries of human economic activity allows the plant to survive in the most difficult conditions: figs grow in mountainous areas, on barren lands, tolerates frosts well up to 15–20°C below zero. The fruits of the fig tree have traditionally been used fresh or processed; they have always been an important component of the Balkan cuisine peculiar of the peoples living in the Peninsula. However, until the 19th century, the plant remained a mystery to people who devoted their lives to cultivating it.
4 In the reproduction system (pollination and fruiting) of figs, a large role has always been played by the wild fig tree (caprifica)2. The fig tree develops three types of flowers: male (staminate), female short-styled (gall) and female long-styled. It is the latter that bear fruit. The inflorescences which form male and gall flowers are called syconia, they are small and hard, and pollen ripens in them. The gall flowers serve as incubators for the development of the blastophagous wasp (Blastophaga psenes), which then pollinates the fertile inflorescences. Aristotle was the first to suggest that there is some kind of connection between blastophages and ripening figs. However, for a long time the mystery of fig fertilization remained unsolved; even K. Linnaeus (1707–1778) failed to solve it3. Biologists discovered the intricacies of the relationship between blastophages and figs only in the 19th century (Neer van der 2007: 56). In a wild fig tree, called caprifica (Latin caper “goat” and fīcus “fig tree, fig fruit”)4, both syconia and fertile inflorescences are on the same tree, while in most cultivated species the former are formed on the trees of one kind, and the latter on others called figs. Nowadays, one male is usually planted for every 20 female trees (GRE s.a.). Mankind gradually came to the understanding that such a ratio is particularly necessary. The ancient Greeks already knew that many cultivars of fig trees do not produce fruit by themselves. Columella (1st century AD), an ancient Roman writer who covered the topic of agriculture in his writings, talked about the custom of hanging the branches of a wild fig tree on cultivated fig trees. It was believed that this practice would prevent unripe fruits from falling and contribute to their fast ripening (tempus est fīculneis arboribus caprifīcum suspendere – “time to hang a wild fig tree to fig trees”; Col. R. R. 11. 2. 56). The verb caprifīco “to accelerate the ripening of figs” was noted in Pliny’s texts (1st century AD) (André 1956: 70). 2. Pliny the Elder describes this plant as follows: “...a fig that never reaches maturity is called wild” (Lat. caprif īcus vocatur... fīcus numquam maturescens) (Plin. Nat. 15. 79).
5 Currently mainly fig trees, giving parthenocarpic fruits are cultivated. Greek παρθένος – “virgin; unblemished” and καρπός – “fruit”, literally translated as “virgin fruit”; a particular instance of parthenogenesis, virgin fertilization without pollination in plants usually with the formation of seedless fruits (LOP 1980: 271). However, the old way of fig trees caprification is still remembered in the Balkans (Lafe 2008: 676) (see in this connection the Albanian figurative expression that still exists today: I martoi fiqtё, lit. “married fig trees” (Gjevori 1979: 69), referring to how the gardener acts when he hangs wild branches to a cultivated fig tree).
6 The fig tree plays a significant role in the intellectual culture of the Western Balkan nations. The plant reproductive system, which remained a mystery for several millennia, led to the emergence of strongly held views about the spirits of nature, secrets and magical properties of figs (Tolstoy 1995–2012; Tirta 2004: 57–61; Tolstaya 2019). The miraculous powers of the fig tree are manifested primarily in the system of the Balkan protective rituals. For example, the Serbs believed that in bad weather, especially during a thunderstorm, one should light up a fig tree branch consecrated on White Saturday (the first Saturday after Trinity Sunday) and make the sign of the cross over an approaching cloud with it (Chaykanovich 1985: 220).

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